Taking Care of Your Fingers

I know what you mean, Dama. I have lyme disease and my fingers have been hell lately.

Give 'em some rest sometimes. Drink tea. And then...ignore them. They can complain all they want. You've got work to do.

Take a few days off, Dama. Let your hands relax. If possible, have someone massage them (it's easy and feels divine).

I've had periods of productivity where I've typed out 15k in about two days. It's hell on my hands, and I've had to wear a brace a few times until the pain goes away.

If nothing else, invest in an ergonomic keyboard. They are supposed to be great for your hands, especially if you are likely to get arthritis or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Possibly invest in a Dvorak keyboard--they really reduce the amount of stress on the hand and arms when typing.

Ice helps a lot with overuse injuries--I know this well from my tendinitis issues a few months ago. So ice a lot if you're getting pain, and do it till the skin goes numb. You can tell it's numb for real because there will be no water on your arm.

Basically I tell you this from the heart: don't screw yourself over typing typing typing to get the story out if your hands don't want you to. I totally put myself over the arm-strain edge in February playing in a pit orchestra (violin) and ended up being unable to play in the performances I'd spent so many hours rehearsing for. Just don't overwork yourself.

Don't write so much, little girl. When you write that much, a good deal of it is irreparable trash.

Rich said:

Don't write so much, little girl. When you write that much, a good deal of it is irreparable trash.

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Completely uncalled for. You've been killing threads like this all day. Someone piss in your Wheaties?


I just saw a doctor yesterday for my hand. Tendinitis is the supposed culprit. Although to be truthful, I write tech manuals, code, and fiction all day, the technical stuff for the last 10 years. So I'm somewhat conditioned now.

He also thinks golfing caused this, not the typing or the writing. Which is fine, but if he thinks I've giving up any of these, he can suck an egg. Just give me stuff that makes the pain go away.

Tendinitis can be treated using a cortisone treatment I can't spell, something like electro-something. My tendinitis was almost gone after about two months of this treatment and PT, and laying off the violin...of course I've picked up right where I left off but the pain is way more manageable now.

Jack, back off. If you have a problem with someone's post, then report it. Do not take matters into your own hands.

Rich and Dama have been friends on the boards for a long time now. I see nothing "pissy" about his comment to Dama.

Birol, I stand corrected and humbly withdraw my post.

I sheepishly thought this might be the case when I posted.

My apologies to Rich.

Thank you.

Jack--good on you, mate, for the apology.

I've had carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands--surprisingly, typing hasn't bothered them, at all. It's other stuff--like home improvement projects and carrying kids.

I had surgery on my right hand in February, and it seems to be doing fine. I waited too long and now have some permanent nerve damage in it, but it hasn't affected my typing, fortunately. But I care so much about my hands that I'm not allowing the same surgeon to do my left hand (my dominant one). He didn't seem to care that I want to make a living with my hands; acted like I should be happy if I can still wash dishes, given that he took me as "just a housewife."

There are some helpful explanations about ergonomics here on the SFWA website.

Mdlle. Nancy said:

Possibly invest in a Dvorak keyboard--they really reduce the amount of stress on the hand and arms when typing.

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Hey Nancy, is that what you've heard, or is it your own experience?

And, speaking of the other Dvorak, can play his violin concerto?

Ziljon said:

Hey Nancy, is that what you've heard, or is it your own experience?

And, speaking of the other Dvorak, can play his violin concerto?

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What I've heard, because my family'd freak on me if I replaced their keyboard with something different also I write on a laptop. But I've read that the average hand travels sixteen miles in a day of typing on a regular QWERTY keyboard to one on a Dvorak. Also QWERTY was designed for inefficiency because back in the day typewriters jammed when people typed too fast.

I can play the first movement of his serenade in E?

I can play the first movement of his serenade in E?

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You really are dangerous.

Refuse ALL nurses who wanna stick an IV in your hand. If the nurse pitches a fit, call for his/her supervisor. Don't EVER let them mess with your hands.

The veins in the hands are easier to get a needle into. But the damage that can result is frightening. I admit it's not common for permanent damage to result from an IV to the hand, but it's not rare either.

The reason they go for the hands at all is that it's quicker and easier for them.

Too bad.

Tell them it goes in the arm, or not at all.

DamaNegra said:

As writers, we spend most of our time sitting in front of the computer typing our souls out. But this is hell on our fingers and we're bound to succumb to arthritis at one point in our lifetimes.

How can we, as writers, take care of our fingers to make them last as long as possible? I've been typing as if possessed for the past four days and now my fingers hurt a lot. Is it the cold weather? Will it help to submerge them in cold water? Put some ice on them? What are your recommendations?

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Yoga works for me. I also type with a wrist rest at the keyboard and mouse, but yoga helps shake any aches out and strengthens my wrists. Other weight-bearing exercises may be equally helpful.

Plot Device said:

Refuse ALL nurses who wanna stick an IV in your hand. If the nurse pitches a fit, call for his/her supervisor. Don't EVER let them mess with your hands.

The veins in the hands are easier to get a needle into. But the damage that can result is frightening. I admit it's not common for permanent damage to result from an IV to the hand, but it's not rare either.

Tell them it goes in the arm, or not at all.

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Yes! That happened to me last year when they wanted to start an IV. I kept insisting I needed my right hand that afternoon for my writing. I begged them to please, please put it in the arm, just below the hand. I knew this from past experiences with IVs. Two of them then pounced on me. At that point, I needed the test done and gave in. My hand was swollen for two days. Typing was hurtful. At least no permanent damage.

Ergonomic keyboards, the right kind, are wonderful, and I know from personal experience. I spend 9 hours a day at work on a computer, come home and spend the rest of the night either writing or playing online games. Keyboards make a WORLD of difference (though if I get tired it's typically my wrists that hurt, not my fingers).

I can immediately tell when I'm on a bad keyboard if I have to press too hard on the keys. It wears out your fingers and wrists much faster and puts unnecessary strain on them. MAKE SURE you don't just get the cheapest brand of ergonomic keyboard... trust me, the actual keystrokes you do are just as or more important than the placement of your fingers on the silly thing.

There are some stretching excersizes you can do to avoid carpal tunnel and the like... look em up and use em.

Post-op recovery requires a nice comfy pillow, naps, some chocolate, and fluffy viewing or reading.

Fortunately for me, I type with only three fingers. My right index and middle finger and my left index finger. That leaves three fingers on one hand and four on the other as backups. Or ... two more sets. (grin) Whoever says pick and peck is not a usuable method of typing does not have two sets of backups. (smile)

stormie said:

Yes! That happened to me last year when they wanted to start an IV. I kept insisting I needed my right hand that afternoon for my writing. I begged them to please, please put it in the arm, just below the hand. I knew this from past experiences with IVs. Two of them then pounced on me. At that point, I needed the test done and gave in. My hand was swollen for two days. Typing was hurtful. At least no permanent damage.

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Next time don't back down.

I have a vein in my right hand that had an IV in it ten years ago. This year, for the very first time, it has started to ache in that precise spot, and the vein is starting to bulge upward in a funny vaguely dark lump. So maybe nothing bad has happened YET to that vein of yours, but it might one day.

Ever seen the hands of really old people? With huge, swollen veins? Some of those swellings they suffer from are IV-induced from years of medical procedures. And as they get odler, elderly people just need more and more medical treatment all the time. Their hands are just horrible looking!

And once again, it's because it's more convenient for the nurse to get their rounds done more quickly. Or else because the surgeon stipulates he wants to be operating on you from X-side of your unconcscious body, and he doesn't want some annoying IV tube, and it's accompanying hanging bag, in his way all during surgery. So the nurses are sometimes being pressured to coerce patients into agreeing to the location of the IV for the surgeon's convenience.

People who use manual wheel chairs (as opposed to power chairs) also have to put up a fight sometimes, because if they were to suffer impairment to one of their hands, they would not be able to operate their own wheelchairs. I know an elderly man in a wheelchair who said his protest escalated into an argument with a nurse one day when he had to get some routine testing done, and he told her if she stuck anything in his hand or wrist he would sue the hospital. She had to get her supervisor and the supervisor agreed with the man in the wheelchair.

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO REFUSE! Exercise it. Don't back down. Not when it comes to this.

Plot Device said:

. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO REFUSE! Exercise it. Don't back down. Not when it comes to this.

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You're right. They got me when I felt the most vulnerable. (I was really sick this last time.) I have asked other times to have it inserted just below the back of the hand (wrist area) and they have complied. This last time, though, I just gave up. After what you said, never again will I give up. Thanks!